void

Cosmic voids are vast spaces between filaments, which contain very few or no galaxies. In spite of their size, most galaxies are not located in voids but are gravitationally bound together, creating huge cosmic structures known as galaxy filaments. The cosmological evolution of the void regions differs drastically from the evolution of the universe as a whole: there is a long stage when the curvature term dominates, which prevents the formation of galaxy clusters and massive galaxies. Hence, although even the emptiest regions of voids contain more than ~15% of the average matter density of the universe, the voids look almost empty to an observer.